Into the Parks - Teton and Yellowstone

Up early and on our way into the parks!  

At the gate we were heading in, we learned we couldn't go into Teton very far that way because the road was closed due to the bears loading up on berries right along the roadway.  Apparently they thought that might be a safety issues?  We decided to drive in as far as we could.  It was through the forest, and we saw a young black bear walking along the road, but it took off fast when the car in front of us started driving on.

A bit further we saw a few cars stopped, which always means wildlife.  There was a bear (and maybe a cub) resting by the bigger tree in the picture.

We saw a deer up further, but I didn't get a good picture of that.

When we got as far as we could go (looking longingly at the road closed sign, knowing there were bears ahead!), we turned around and headed back to enter through Jackson.  We stopped for a quick potty break at the museum there (went back to really look around the next day).

 

I love the elk just inside the building!

Love the Tetons!  Just beautiful.

My cute bunny.  :)

More selfies!

I told them the pictures turn out better if I take them.  :)

Stopped for a quick lunch.

Isaac was always happy to get out of his car seat.  He ate about every non-mommy meal strapped in the car, poor kid.

Finally to Yellowstone!

As we entered, we found out one of the roads was closed.  Old Faithful immediately off the list of things to see.

We got out near West Thumb and walked through the Geyser Basin.

If you look closely, you can see Adam and Sam through the mist (between Jamie and Madeleine).

We had a bit of sadness here.  Adam left a part of himself at Yellowstone.  This picture shows him with it.

A bit down the trail and around the corner, there it is through the slats of the walkway on the ground.  We couldn't think of any way to retrieve it.  :(  He got that several years ago on a family vacation to Mesa, then later it broke and lived in a baggie for years.  Two general conferences ago he had it all put together a few times, but the ends were too short, or just as he was about to finish it fell apart.  He finally gave up.  Last general conference he put it all together, and has worn it almost daily since.  He picked up Madeleine, the magnetic clasp came apart, and it fell straight through the slats.  Guess mom needs to search for the beads to replace it.

(You can click the pictures to see them full size if you didn't know.)

This mud pot freaked Carolyn out.  Just as I was walking over towards her, she turned to say something, saw it spit out some mud, and jumped.  It was pretty funny.

Further up the road we went on the Mud Volcano walk.

Carolyn said the Dragon's Mouth geyser was her favorite.

When we got back to the van, this beautiful raven was hanging out right in front of it.  He posed perfect while Jamie and I took pictures.

Further up the road, we met the only bison we saw up close.

Yellowstone Grand Canyon!

Lots of new growth trees around.  Exciting to see the forest coming alive again after fires.

We took a walk through the Norris Geyser Basin, an area that I don't think I've been to before.  Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest active but very unpredictable geyser, did not perform for us.

The geyser below, Vixen Geyser, was performing quite well, shooting bursts up water pretty high into the air.  Apparently this one has two types of eruptions, and we got to see the more rare type.

At Gibbon Falls, just a few of us jumped out of the van to go look.  When we came running back, Jamie apparently asked Sam why we were running.  "Because Gibbon fell."

Adam taking a picture.

Melanie taking a picture.

Carolyn looking cold.

That evening we found a place in West Yellowstone to eat.  Isaac practiced his driving while we waited a few minutes for an empty table.

And Further North - Rexburg Temple, Big Judd's, and the Cabins

We headed up the road to Rexburg.

Took a little drive past the campus there, and wow, it's changed a lot since I was going to school there.  Then to the temple.

More selfies

One checking their selfie, the other taking one.  :)

Would have been wonderful to have the temple there 20 years ago, but what a blessing to the students there now.  So close to campus that it's an easy trip.

Another temple picture with Jamie.

They wanted to go all the way around the temple.

Carolyn trying to get Isaac to crawl all the way up the hill to me.  Nope, he didn't want to.

There is a big grassy area between the temple and the church next door.  The kids got some wiggles out racing.

For the record, Sam won the race to the church side.

Running to daddy!

Madeleine loves to pose, and wanted pictures in front of the pretty purple flowers.  She wouldn't look right at me because it was too bright.

More selfies.  :)

From there, on to Ashton, Idaho so Jamie could check off a bucket list item - eating a Double Big Judd.  Thankfully, not all by himself.  Jamie, Adam, and I all split this.

Keeping it away from those quick baby hands!

Bob and Emmett wanted to pose with it.

Sam got a jalapeno burger.  Look at those fresh jalapeno slices!  Even Bob and Emmett are scared!  Sam said it wasn't too hot, but when he was done he mentioned he was at the point when he couldn't think straight.

(We had an episode of that a few weeks ago with a pepper from our garden, a fiesta pepper.  Sam brought it in and sliced it up, and looking at it, I decided it didn't look very hot and tossed in a slice.  It came back out really quickly, but yowzah, the spice was bad and hung on for a long time.  Sam ate one and swallowed it down.  A bit later he said something along the lines of, "I can't even think straight," then promptly sat on a play table the girls had been using for a tea party.  They had cleaned up the dishes, but it was still wet.  I about died laughing.  A bit later he mentioned that his nose was numb, and I noticed that yes, mine was also feeling strange.  And thus we see, normal people avoid hot peppers for good reason.)

The Double Big Judd sliced in half.  It's definitely BIG!

After leaving there we started to head out of Ashton and noticed this cool train, so Jamie pulled around so Sam could get pictures.  It drove off while we were watching. 

Then up to Driggs, Idaho where Jamie had reserved a couple of cabins.  They were really nice but also really reasonably priced.

Double queen bunk beds!

Besides the bunk beds, a futon to the left.

Of course the top bunk was coveted, so two shared it one night and Sam had it the second night.  The four oldest slept in here.

Tons of space under the beds.  We joked that some of the kids could have just slept under there.

Isaac wanted his turn up on top!

The other cabin had two queens.  The three youngest and mom and dad slept in here.

After the littles were all mostly settled I went over to say goodnight to the big kids.  They were all sitting on the futon watching "Cool Runnings."  I didn't have my camera, but took a picture of all of them with Adam's.  We bought popcorn at a local grocery store earlier, so I popped a bag of regular, a bag of jalapeno (yes, he wanted more hot stuff), and a bag or marshmallow popcorn.  When I got back to the other cabin with the smell of it all still hanging on me, Jamie and I both wanted to make some of our own, but decided we wanted to let the littles sleep even more.  I guess we should have popped some in the other cabin and brought it back.